How to change a life
by Haven Victoria
Summary: Bella is an immortal, and has travelled the world for over five centuries, while avoiding both humans and supernatural creatures as much as possible. When she travels to Forks, she runs into the Cullens. One of the Cullens takes an interest in her, and she has to adapt to the life of a normal teenager. Will she succeed? And what happens when the Volturi get involved? BellaxEsme
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners.**

**Rating: M for swear words, and possibly lemons in later chapters.**

**Warning: This story contains femslash, if this offends you, don't read this story.**

**Chapter 1**

**Bella's POV**

I grumbled a bit to myself as I struggled through the woods, not twenty miles from my destination; the tiny town of Forks. It was already getting dark, and soon I would have to find a place to sleep.

I had been on my way to Forks for a couple of weeks, even though I could go faster than other super natural creatures.

Hmm, I guess an explanation would be necessary here.

You see, I'm not human. I'm not exactly sure _what_ I am, but I damn sure am not ordinary.

Other supernatural creatures, for example are vampires (yes, they do, in fact, exist), shape-shifters and werewolves.

When travelling, I always preferred human speed, for some unknown reason. Besides, I had all the time in the world. Literally. I was immortal, after all.

Human speed does have its problems, of course. I enjoyed it, but it was agonizingly slow.

Hence why I was now looking for a place to sleep, in the middle of a forest.

The air was thick with some awful smell, almost like wet dog. I didn't recognise it.

Now I thought about it, the stench had hung in the air for several miles.

While wondering about it, I tucked myself under a tree, not even taking the trouble of taking of my coat and shoulder bag. I put my case containing my violin next me and curled up to get some sleep.

Sleep came very slowly. I had been staring at the rapidly darkening sky for a couple of hours when I finally drifted off into my dreams.

Unfortunately for me, those dreams were mostly nightmares.

''_I snarled in barely contained rage at the two humans, who were cowering in the corner. They had done this to me! They had brought me into this hell hole and turned me into a monster, and now I was free, they would pay for it, along with every other human in this goddamn building!_

_The men whimpered in fear and looked desperately at the door. They bolted._

_I growled furiously and pounced, dragging them to the floor and breaking their bones with the blow._

_They cried in pain, and I growled again… ''_

I faintly heard another growl, which was not coming from the dream-me. Several growls actually.

I slowly woke up and looked around. There were several wolves, the size of horses, standing in front of me, along with one man.

The man was looking at me. Curious, but threatening.

He had black, short cropped hair, a tanned skin, tons of muscles and a tattoo on his left upper arm.

He was only wearing shorts.

Then I understood. Shape-shifters. Marvellous. Just what I need. And that was heavy sarcasm.

Well, at least it explained the stench.

Shape-shifters were, at least in my book, the synonym to trouble.

They were ill-tempered, rude and uncontrolled.

But then, there were only six here, including the man, so if it came to a fight, I would probably win and get away fairly unharmed.

Of course, hundreds of years of fighting experience helps a lot.

'Who and what are you?' The man inquired harshly.

'Who wants to know?' I asked back, hopping onto my feet and taking my violin case off the ground.

The man growled. 'I am Sam Uley, Alpha of the La Push Pack.' He said, puffing out his chest. 'Now answer my question!'

'You're very rude.' I told him. 'But, I'll tell you my name. I'm Isabella, Bella for short.'

'Very well, Bella, now tell me what you are.' He demanded.

'I'd rather not.' I hung my violin case on my back and dusted off my coat, ignoring the growling of the wolves and the violent shaking of Sam.

He would probably shift out of anger soon. Pups and their temper.

'I will be going now.' I told Sam. 'I will leave your territory and find some other place to sleep.'

'You're not going anywhere before you answer my questions.' Sam hissed. The wolves surrounded me and snarled threateningly. Sam smiled, trying to show dominance over me.

Quite frankly, it pissed me of. I hadn't been insulted like this in years, and a bunch of overgrown mongrels dared to provoke me in such a rude way!

'Now,' Sam said, 'I have some questions for you, and you'd better answer them, or I'll have my pack force the answers from you.'

'Are you really that stupid?' I asked, thoroughly pissed. 'I have centuries over all of you, and you genuinely believe that you can make me do what you want?'

Sam started shaking in anger again, and it was quite clear that he was going to attack.

Fortunately for them, I wasn't in the mood for fighting.

So I ran for it.

I weaved through trees and bushes, with the wolves hot on my heels, barking and snapping at me.

Just as I jumped over a fallen tree, gaining more distance over them, my violin case got stuck on a branch, snapping the chord with which it clung to my back and falling on the ground.

'Goddamnit!' I cursed, turning around to grab it. There was no way in hell that I was leaving my violin behind, mongrels chasing after me or not.

I ducked out of the way of a huge russet coloured wolf and quickly grabbed my violin case while dodging another attack.

Turning to run, I found that I was surrounded once again.

Snarling angrily, I kicked a large black wolf out of the way, breaking it's ribs.

Hearing a yelp of pain, I started running again. I ran faster than I had run a couple of minutes ago, only stopping to break a grey wolf's front leg.

After a couple of miles, eight, or ten maybe, the chasing suddenly stopped.

I looked behind me and saw the remaining mutts barking at me, without coming closer.

Looks like I left their territory.

Smirking at them I turned around to walk away. And stopped dead in my tracks.

A small pixie-like vampire female stood in front of me, not ten feet away. She looked harmless, but you have to be careful with vampires.

Actually, you have to be careful with supernaturals in general.

She sniffed the air and looked at me curiously.

'Oh, fuck. Not again.' I muttered under my breath, before taking of at a run.

'Hey, wait!' The pixie yelled, before running after me.

I looked over my shoulder and saw her talking into a cell phone while running after me.

Deciding to throw her off track, I turned, too fast for her to see and then kept running until I found a large boulder the size of a house to hide behind.

It probably wouldn't keep me hidden for long, but I could at least sleep for a couple of hours before having to run again.

I sat down on the ground and took my pipe out of my shoulder bag. Smoking always helped me to calm down.

Leaning against the rock, I happily puffed away on my pipe, before putting my bag under my head as a pillow and falling asleep, hugging my violin case as if it was the only thing keeping me alive.

While I was asleep, my mind processed the situations I found myself in today.

It resulted in me reliving the chase in my dreams.

''_I ran, dodging trees and mutts while clutching onto my now retrieved violin case. A grey wolf jumped in front of me, and I barged right into it, snapping the bone of one of its front legs._

_It yelped in pain and howled when I violently kicked it out of my way, tossing it headfirst into a tree…''_

When I was getting to the part when I saw the pixie-like vampire, my subconscious poked me, signalling that I was not alone anymore.

My eyes snapped open, and I stared into the face of the pixie.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **

**Disclaimer can be found in Chapter 1 and on my profile.**

**Rating can be found in Chapter 1.**

**Warning: This story contains femslash, if this offends you, than don't read this story.**

**Chapter 2**

**Bella's POV**

_When I was getting to the part when I saw the pixie-like vampire, my subconscious poked me, signalling that I was not alone anymore._

_My eyes snapped open, and I stared into the face of the pixie..._

I involuntarily let out a small yelp of surprise, and my hand shot out, slamming her away from me.

She made a weird, surprised kind of sound. Apparently, she hadn't expected me to attack her.

Looking around, I noticed other vampires standing around at a distance. What was it with supernatural creatures surrounding me at the moment?

This was the second time tonight that I had been woken up and surrounded. Did someone suddenly declare a Let's-all-surround-Bella-day?

To be honest, it was slightly annoying.

I got on my feet and crouched down in a defensive stance, growling softly.

One of the vampires, a man with short blonde hair and a kind face, stepped forward.

His eyes were gold. Weird. I always thought vampires had red eyes.

'I am Carlisle.' He said, his voice calm and soothing. He waved his hand towards the vampires surrounding me. 'And this is my family. We mean you no harm.'

'Right.' I sneered. 'I find that hard to believe, seeing that one of you was practically sitting on me not two minutes ago.'

'Your reasoning is understandable, but I can assure you that she did not mean to scare you. She was merely curious about you.' Carlisle said.

I growled. 'First of all, I wasn't scared, I was surprised. Second of all, curious or not, it doesn't give you the right to stare at like I am some sort of animal in a zoo.'

'You are right. I apologize on behalf of my family.' He didn't seem surprised by my animosity. 'Now, may I ask who you are and why you were sleeping against a rock?'

Relaxing from my crouch slightly, I gave him a curt nod. 'My name is Isabella, but most people just say ''Bella'' or ''Bells''. I was sleeping against this rock because some overgrown mutts chased me off their territory when I was sleeping against a tree, then I ran into the pixie, I fled and went here, hoping I could get some more sleep.' I huffed. 'Apparently, that hope was in vain.'

Carlisle followed my gaze to the pixie and cleared his throat. 'Ah, yes. Let me introduce my family.'

He nodded towards the pixie. 'That is Alice, the man next to her is her mate, Jasper.'

Alice was small, even shorter than me, and had short, spiky black hair, fine, graceful features and she seemed to bounce with energy. She smiled happily at me.

I didn't smile back.

Jasper was lank, honey blond and covered with scars. Bite marks, to be precise. He looked disciplined and cautious, without looking threatening. He was probably an excellent fighter.

'This is Rosalie,' Carlisle continued, nodding towards a tall blonde bombshell. 'and her mate, Emmett.'

The bombshell, Rosalie, was beautiful. The epitome of perfection. Her hair was long and golden, reaching her lower back. Her legs went on for days, and her curves just kept going.

Pity that she looked so utterly irritated. A smile would have looked much better on her.

Of course, I snickered at that thought, and she raised one perfectly arched eyebrow at me.

Ignoring her, I turned to Emmett.

He was enormous, but not in a threatening way. Sure, he basically was a walking bicep, but the glint in his eyes and the dimples in cheeks gave me the impression that he was more of a giant teddy bear than a dangerous bodybuilder.

Carlisle went on with the introductions and nodded towards a caramel haired woman, in her mid-twenties. 'This is Esme. Unfortunately, she is still unmated.'

Esme was kind and caring. That was the first thought that entered my mind when I looked at her.

Her hair had the colour of caramel, and looked silky soft. She had soft, delicate features, which expressed kindness and love. Definitely the caring, motherly type.

In my opinion, she was even more beautiful than Rosalie.

Then I looked into her eyes, and every thought in my head went straight out the window.

I felt like I could look into her eyes for the rest of eternity, and be perfectly happy about it.

Odd.

Then she smiled at me.

My breath hitched, and I couldn't help but smile back warmly. I completely relaxed from my defensive crouch. For some reason, I felt perfectly comfortable around her.

Very odd indeed. And dangerous.

Feeling comfortable around people, trusting people, could kill me in an instant.

And therefore, I would not allow myself to care for them.

I would like to stay alive for another couple of centuries, thank you very much.

I blinked a couple of times to reduce the haze that had taken over my head and reluctantly looked towards the last vampire that Carlisle hadn't introduced yet.

He looked at me as if he was searching something.

'I'm Edward, Carlisle's mate.' He finally said, introducing himself.

He was fairly tall and muscled, but not overly so. His hair had an odd bronze colour, and seemed to defy gravity in every way possible. It looked like he just rolled out of bed.

Not that vampires sleep, but still.

When he kept staring at me weirdly, I chose to ignore him, diverting my attention back to Carlisle.

'So, is there a specific reason that you are surrounding me?' I asked in general. 'Because it is kind of starting to annoy me.'

'Yes, there is actually.' The pixie, Alice, said. 'We wanted to make sure that you couldn't run for it before we had the chance to talk to you.'

'Well, you could've done it in a more subtle way. And without sitting on me to wake me up.' I accused.

She looked slightly sheepish at this.

I shook my head and slung my bag over my shoulder while picking up my violin case.

Re-litting my pipe, I attempted to walk away. Attempted being the key-word.

A voice called out to me. 'Where are you going?' Someone asked. Probably the pixie.

'I'm going to find some place to sleep.' I answered, turning around to meet her gaze. 'Seeing that sleeping here would be a problem now. Why do you ask?'

'Because I'm curious.' She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'Curiosity can get you killed.' I told her.

The blond bombshell stiffened. 'Is that a threat?' She growled, glaring daggers at me.

If looks could kill, I'd be six feet under by now.

'No. I'm not entirely stupid.' I scoffed. 'I know perfectly well that it isn't smart to threaten or offend a coven as large as yours.'

'Then why'd you say it?' Alice inquired.

'I was merely stating a fact. After all, lots of people get killed trying to sate their curiosity.' I answered. I turned towards the vampire closest to me. Esme. Strange.

I could've sworn she stood further away last time I looked.

When I met her gaze, I could feel myself relax almost instantly. Not good. It would wear my defences down, leaving me vulnerable for attack. And if there was something I hated, it was being vulnerable.

Keeping your defences up for over five centuries certainly made you uncomfortable when they suddenly seemed to cease to exist.

Another reason to get out of here, besides the shape-shifters and the coven.

Forks would have to wait until it was safe to come back.

I cleared my throat, quickly looking away, feeling uncomfortable. 'If you'll excuse me, I will take my leave. I'd like to get some sleep before the sun has fully risen.' I added, looking at the sky. It was slowly starting to get lighter, and it would only take two hours, at the most, for the sun to be fully risen.

Esme exchanged a look with Carlisle and then looked back at me. 'Would you like to join us at our house? I'm sure we could find you a bed to sleep in for a couple of nights.' She seemed hopeful.

I noticed I had trouble declining her offer. 'Um… N…No, thank you. I… I really should be going.' Damn, did I just stutter? I hadn't stuttered in centuries. Literally. A blush crept up my cheeks.

What the hell was going on here?

When I saw her crestfallen expression I immediately regretted my decision. Perhaps I could come, if only for half an hour or so. That couldn't do any harm, could it?

I would only stay an hour. A day tops. Maybe two.

No. Stop thinking like that. I would _not_ come. It would make me vulnerable. It could kill me.

I would not, in any circumstances, give in to this gorgeous women standing in front of me.

'Are you sure?' Esme asked, still a glimmer of hope gracing her beautiful features. 'We would be honoured to have you. And you look like you could really use a good night's sleep.'

I hesitated, seeking for a way out. She was right, of course. I needed to sleep. But wasn't going to give in. Too dangerous. I'd be mad to sleep in a house full of strangers, vampires or not.

Besides, who knew what they were up to.

No. I wouldn't.

As if sensing the fact that I was going to decline, Esme spoke up again. 'You have my word that we won't harm you in any way whatsoever, of course. I can promise you that you won't be hurt by any of us.' She looked at me, silently begging me with her eyes, and somehow, I felt my resistance crumbling away.

'Yeah, sure. If you really want me to, I'll come.' I heard myself say, unable to stop the words from leaving my lips.

Wait, did I really just say that? I did not just accept her offer! What is wrong with me?!

What was it with this woman that she could break through my walls so easily?

As I said earlier: what the hell is going on here?!

Esme smiled the most dazzling smile I've seen. It kind of was like looking into the sun.

There was no way I was going to be able to talk myself out of this. That's for sure.

A bit dazed, I smiled back, still not sure what just happened.

'Very well.' Carlisle said from somewhere next to me. 'Shall we go home then?'

I nodded absentmindedly, still mulling over what happened a minute ago, and put away my pipe.

Then I followed Carlisle back to wherever he and his coven lived. Esme decided to run next to me, still smiling happily.

We reached the house in a matter of minutes, and I couldn't help but be impressed by the building.

It was enormous, white and at least a century old, with huge windows.

Quite impressive.

Esme showed me inside, and I slowly sat down on the sofa, putting my bag and violin case on the ground.

What was I doing here again? Oh, right. I involuntarily accepted Esme's offer to stay at their house for a bit.

Why did they have a house anyway? They were vampires for God's sake. Vampires weren't supposed to stay in one place. Not with humans around all the time. The corpses from their feeding habits would pile up and expose them.

The only vampires I knew stayed in one place were the Volturi. And they were very strict when it came to feeding and exposure and stuff like that.

Weird.

I declined their offers when they asked me whether I wanted something to eat, despite the fact that I was starving. No use in getting myself killed by eating poisoned food. Same goes for drinks, by the way.

Way too dangerous.

I yawned, and slumped a bit on the sofa, unable to hide my fatigue any longer.

Esme smiled. 'Seems like our questions will have to wait. Let's get you a place to sleep.'

After I gave her a suspicious look, I shrugged, picked up my stuff and followed her up the stairs.

She opened a door and showed me into a large bedroom. There was another door, which I assumed led to a bathroom.

It was nicely decorated, creamy white and soft brown colours dominated the room, giving it a calm and relaxing aura.

Very nice indeed.

'You can take a shower before you go to sleep, if you like. The bathroom is through there.' Esme said, showing me said room. She flashed me a smile. 'I'll leave you alone now. I hope you sleep well.'

'Thank you, I really appreciate it.' I said, remembering my manners.

When Esme had left, I dropped my bag and violin case on the bed and walked into the bathroom.

It was spacious, and had the same colour scheme as the bedroom.

A shower would be a good idea.

I took my spare shirt out of my bag, stripped down and turned on the shower.

The water was incredibly relaxing. Feeling the tension leave my shoulders, I let out a sigh.

After having washed my hair and rinsing off my body, I dried myself off, put on my spare shirt and dove into bed.

Snuggling into the thick comforter, it didn't take long before I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

**Esme's POV**

When I came down the stairs, the entire family sat in the living room. No doubt for a family meeting about the girl who was now upstairs taking a shower. Their expressions were curious, and a bit distrustful. It was obvious that they trusted Isabella just as much as she trusted us: not at all.

I myself, however, trusted her completely, although I wasn't sure why. I did know, though, that I felt a deep connection to the girl upstairs. I could feel it the moment I laid my eyes on her.

'Well,' Carlisle said. 'this is no doubt an interesting situation, and I think this is a matter that we need to discuss as a family.'

Rosalie was the first to say something. 'Do you think we can trust her? You know, since she is obviously not human, and definitely not afraid.'

'No, I don't think we can.' Edward said matter-of-factly. I supressed the urge to growl at him.

The assumption that Isabella was not to be trusted was ridiculous!

Edward shot me a weird look and frowned, but kept quiet.

'Why do you think that?' Alice asked, curiously.

'I can't read her.' Edward answered, his shoulders a bit slumped. He wasn't happy with that.

Soon, they were all in deep discussion, trying to figure out what to do now. I kept quiet and refrained from joining in the bickering. That was, until Carlisle proposed to vote about the matter.

'Who wants to give Isabella a chance?' He asked, and several hands shot up, including mine. Swiftly, I counted the hands: five, again, including mine. Only Edward and Rosalie had not voted in favour of Isabella.

For some reason, I was angry with them, even though I didn't have a reason to be. After all, everyone was entitled to their own opinion.

Nevertheless, I had a hard time keeping my face in check and not scowling at them.

When the family meeting was over, my mind drifted off towards Isabella.

Why did she interest me so much? Why did I feel like I had to protect her?

I frowned. I suppose time will tell.

But I couldn't help but wondering.

**A/N:** **Sorry I didn't update earlier, but I have a testweek coming up at school, and I spend most of my time studying nowadays.**

**I'm not sure when I have time to write again, but it will be as soon as possible.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm still trying to figure out how to write from Esme's POV, so it isn't really accurate, but in time, I will learn.**

**If you have any remarks, ideas, or anything at all really, let me know, and I'll see what I can do with it.**

**Have a great day, everyone!**

**~ Haven**


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